


Out of the Cold

by Deifire



Series: Eerie Advent Calendar Challenge [17]
Category: Eerie Indiana
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 06:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5446841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deifire/pseuds/Deifire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a major winter storm blows through Eerie, and a trend is definitely not started.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Eerie Advent Calendar fic challenge.
> 
> Prompt: Cold snap.

_About Three Years Later_

It was going to be a brutal night. The temperature had passed freezing some time ago and the wind was picking up, tossing both the falling snow and what was already on the ground all over Eerie, blinding anyone unlucky enough to still be out in it trying to drive home. It was going to get worse before morning. Weatherman Wally had used the word blizzard on TV earlier, and Wally was seldom—well, make that never—wrong about these things.

Marshall Teller sat on his bedroom floor, clad in his warmest sweatshirt and pajama pants, wrapped in a wool blanket, enjoying one last comic book and cup of hot cocoa before he finally crawled beneath his new flannel sheets.

There was a knock at his window.

He ignored it at first, thinking it was just the wind, until it came a second time. Louder, more insistent.

He got up, wrapping the blanket tighter around him, crossed the room, and raised the blinds. When he saw who it was, he opened the window, then grabbed and pulled his visitor none-to-gently inside. He shut it against the cold again as fast as he could.

“Dash, what the hell?!” he said.

Dash looked up from where he was now sprawled on the floor of Marshall’s bedroom, beginning to leave a puddle of melting snow and ice on the rug. “Nice to see you, too,” he replied.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Marshall said. He lowered his voice, “I think my parents are still awake. And what are you even doing out in this? It’s, like, minus a trillion out there.”

“Okay, I’ll be going then,” Dash said. He got up and started toward the window.

“No!” Marshall moved to block his way.

Dash stared at him. “Would you make up your damned mind?”

“Well, now that you _are_ here, I can’t let you back out in that.”

Dash snorted. “Like you could stop me.”

Marshall folded his arms. “I can and will. If you go back out there, you will probably die, and I’m not explaining that to Simon.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dash said. “It’s not that bad.”

“Dash, there’s ice frozen in your hair!” Marshall said. Something was beginning to dawn on him. “Why did you come here, anyway?”

“I wanted to watch you panic about the possibility of your mom finding me in your room,” Dash said. He smirked, but didn’t meet Marshall’s eyes.

“Dash, have you been out in this all night?"

"Of course not. I've been at my place, sitting by a roaring fire, until I started thinking how nice it would be if I stopped by to pay my favorite paranormal investigator—well, second favorite, let's face it, I like Simon a lot better—a visit." 

“Dash—" Marshall began.

“Okay, so the place where I’m staying right now is sort of lacking part of an exterior wall. And Mr. Radford changed the locks on the World O’ Stuff again.”

Marshall gave him an exasperated look. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because it’s not your problem! Besides, I’ll be okay. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not as big a wuss about a little cold snap as you are. I’ve survived winter before.”

“Winter, yes,” said Marshall. “But this is Eerie turning into an extra windy version of the ninth circle of Hell. Besides, those other winters, the public library was still standing.” The city was going to rebuild again after the book club incident, but in the meantime, it was one less option for a place for Dash to go when the weather got bad. “I’m sure my parents—" he began.

“No!” Dash cut him off. “If you’re going to get Mommy and Daddy Teller involved, I’m out of here.”

He tried an end run around Marshall to the window, but Marshall caught him.

“Okay,” he said, grabbing and holding Dash tight. He shivered as the ice melting off of Dash’s coat began to soak into his shirt. “Okay, but shhh. If you don’t want my parents to know you’re here, you’re going to have to be quiet.”

Marshall waited until Dash relaxed in his arms and gave in with a muttered, “Whatever.”

“I’ll get you some dry clothes and some food,” he said.

“I’m not wearing anything you own,” Dash protested. “I’ll look stupid.”

“Well, you’re not sleeping in that. Even if I was confident enough in your ability to not die from hypothermia to risk dealing with your corpse in the morning, I don’t want you getting my good flannel sheets all wet.”

Dash looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s like that, then? I’m staying in your bed?”

And Marshall blushed furiously, realizing what he’d just assumed. 

“Well…I mean…you don’t have to. There’s always the floor. I can get Simon’s sleeping bag or some extra blankets, or…” Marshall was halfway to offering to sleep on the floor himself, except he was damned if he’d let Dash get the upper hand like that here in his own room.

Dash laughed. “You can put me wherever you want me, Slick.”

“Shut. Up." Marshall realized he was, if possible, turning an even brighter shade of red. "And just so we’re clear, when I said sleep, I meant _sleep_. Like I said, I think my parents are…”

“So that wasn’t your way of demanding payment for room and board, then?" 

“No!”

“Okay, because I just wanted to be clear.”

Marshall decided to go on the offensive before the conversation got any worse. “Dash, I mean it. For once, just be quiet.”

And for once, Dash was. He was quiet as he let Marshall help him out of his wet coat and shirt. 

“This can’t be the start of a trend, either,” Marshall felt compelled to add. “This is strictly a one-time, extenuating circumstances, major winter storm thing.”

Dash looked skeptical, but was quiet as Marshall slipped the warm wool blanket over his shoulders. 

He was quiet as their lips met.

Outside, the cold wind howled through Eerie.


End file.
